A “recliner” is a chair the back of which can be adjusted to allow the person seated therein to rotate the back portion of the chair while raising the front of the chair. A foot rest is typically extended by the use of a lever or automatically upon rotation of the back rest. A recliner is generally considered a large difficult piece of furniture to move and is typically placed in a den or family room, rather than used as office furniture. However, it has become common for employees to spend extended periods of time in the office. Thus, there is a need to provide chairs which comfortably accommodate them. Office workers sit for long uninterrupted periods of time in the same chair, shifting their weight forward or backwards or from side to side for comfort and to alleviate the pressure applied to the hips and lower back. To help alleviate the pressure applied to the hips and lower back caused by long-term and uninterrupted seating it is preferable to provide a chair whose back support may be tilted between an upright and reclined position allowing the user to effectively seek the most comfortable/desirable seating arrangement.
There are a variety of office chairs available on the market, many of which have tilt control mechanisms. The purpose of the design is to provide a comfortable and ergonomic seating arrangement for the user that allows him or her to sit in a variety of positions while providing the necessary support and comfort, regardless of the user's height, weight or other physical characteristics. Generally, an office chair has a base, typically mounted on casters or fixed slides that rest on the floor, with a support column supporting the seat of the chair located thereon. The chair may or may not include armrests. Mounted to the support column and between the seat and back of the chair is a tilt control housing which contains the various controls, knobs, and mechanisms for adjusting the height of the chair, the tilt of the chair and other various adjustments so that the user can personalize the chair to his or her own use.
There are many mechanisms for controlling the tilt of an office chair. The inclination of the back, and the seat portion is generally accomplished by means of snap detent elements or differential-type gears. Because the arms of most office chairs are used to position and support the back of the chair, these structures are generally unsatisfactory requiring the entire seat to tilt causing the front of the seat to rise as the back is tilted. This arrangement often places pressure under the rear portion of the user's legs near the knees restricting circulation and often causing numbness. Most of these constructions are operated by a spring that is connected between plates positioned under the base of the seat and activated by a lever that releases a catch from one of the plates that allows tilting of the entire chair including the seat and the backrest. While the spring can be of various types of construction, such as leaf spring, coil spring, or the like, the tilt of the chair is generally controlled by the user's weight pressing on the back portion of the chair. The chair is generally biased toward an upright position at all times such that the user must exert pressure to maintain the seat in a tilted position. While the amount and ease of tilt may be controlled by adjusting the spring tension, as soon as the user moves forward towards an upright position, the backrest also moves forward thus pushing against his or her back. Thus, requiring the user to constantly regulate the tilt of the chair with their legs. In addition, because the arms of the chair are used to support the back, this arrangement fails to allow the back to be reclined separately from the seat portion of the chair.
Accordingly, there exists a need in the art for an alternative office chair that provides the ability to recline the back of the chair separately from the seat portion of the chair. The reclinable office chair should utilize a locking gas spring which provides infinite positionability between a fully upright position and reclined positions. The use of the lockable gas cylinder should allow for elimination of the typical pin and aperture locking mechanisms of the prior art.